What's wrong with Mean!Snape ?

[dzeytoun]

No: HPFGUIDX 115239


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "delwynmarch" 
<delwynmarch at y...> wrote:
> 
> Mean and asocial people do exist in RL. People who don't care about
> being liked. People who don't consider social relationships to be
> important. People who would rather be left alone. People who have no
> patience with the weaknesses of others and who don't feel obliged to
> pretend they don't mind. In short, people who are not very happy in
> our society and who don't see why they should pretend they are.
> 
> I see Snape as one of those people. He was always an oddball. He 
never
> made the most basic efforts to be liked (like not looking
> unattractive). He seems to have always been a loner. He doesn't 
enjoy
> teaching. He doesn't believe in being politically correct. He's got
> preferences and dislikes and he's honest about them. He doesn't care
> about keeping his emotions in check as long as he himself doesn't 
get
> burned. And so on.
> 
> So he's an asocial. So what ? There's no rule against that.
> 
> That's why I'm asking : what's wrong with Mean!Asocial!Snape ? 
> 
> Del

Why, nothing Del! Mean, asocial people can have many functions in a 
novel.  Among their most satisfying is to either be redeemed or get 
their just deserts or both.  I think most people who read HP are 
hoping one or the other or both happens with Snape.  After all, we 
read HP to be entertained, and those would be outcomes that a large 
number of people would find entertaining.  If nothing else, because 
mean people in real life are rarely redeemed, and don't often get a 
satisfying dramatic comeuppence, we look forward to seeing those 
things in literature.  It helps keep the old stomach lining intact.

Dzeytoun